Photo. The majestic mountain gorilla (photo
copyright: Per Henriksen, Reiseliv - portal for travel resources,
services and articles: www.Reiseliv.no)
Big
threats are hanging over the gorillas on the African continent. Gorillas are still
exposed for uncontrolled hunting, war, disease, destruction of its forest habitat,
and capture for the illegal pet trade.
In order to
combat these threats, WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund), Fauna and
Flora International (FFI), and the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) set up the
International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) in 1991.
More than 10,000 tourists have in the last years visited the
Virunga Park
for watching gorillas. In the last months there
has been a tremendous cutting of the rainforest in this national park. People inhabit
the area and take over land. When the forest becomes smaller it makes
it more difficult for gorillas to find food.
In worst case it
can extinct the gorilla and put an end for this great tourist attraction in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In other areas in Africa gorillas are exposed for several
serious threats too.
Threats to the mountain
Gorilla
The mountain
gorilla, Gorilla beringei beringei became scientifically discovered for over 100
years ago (17
October 1902). Based on information from WWF,
all the negative impact has caused a dramatic decline in numbers, and there were
fears that the mountain gorilla would become extinct in the same century it was
discovered.
Fortunately some
organisations took these treats seriously. Their conservation initiatives have
so far proved good results. It shows that the numbers of this critically
endangered mountain gorillas are now slowly increasing. Based
on facts numbers have increased by 54 in last 13 years, from 620 in 1989 to
approximately 674 today.
Half of these
gorillas are found in Uganda's
Bwindi
Impenetrable National
Park and the rest in habitat
shared by Mgahinga
National
Park in
Uganda, Parc
National des Volcans in Northern
Rwanda, and the southern sector of Parc
National des Virunga in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to
WWF, habitat loss remains one of the greatest threats. More than 100,000 people
live in the remote areas where mountain gorillas are found. Their need for land
to cultivate has reduced the forest in which the gorillas live to virtual
islands in the middle of human settlements.
World Wild Life
(WWF) writes on its website: "Habitat
loss is a major threat to Grauer's gorilla as forests are rapidly being
fragmented and destroyed by commercial logging and subsistence farmers. There
are few protected areas within its range, but it does occur in the
Kahuzi-Biega
National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. Due to the on-going civil unrest, Kahuzi-Biega is under severe threat from
poachers and encroachment".
What do WWF and other
organisations to help gorillas?
Mountain
gorilla:
As mentioned, in order to combat this and other threats, WWF, FFI,
and AWF established in 1991 a programme for protecting gorillas: the International
Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP).
In the
organisations work they help gorillas by helping people. That's the way they
have to do it so they don't get in conflicts with people's need. Over the past
10 years, the IGCP, together with local communities and park authorities in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and
Uganda, have
worked to protect and effectively manage the habitat and the gorilla population.
Cross River
gorilla:
This gorilla is
critically endangered, reports WWF`s on its website. The few remaining forest
patches of southeastern Nigeria and
western Cameroon are
home to the Cross
River gorilla, a
subspecies of the western gorilla.
Conservation
measures are urgently needed for this beleaguered animal if it is to survive.
Although many thousands of western lowland gorillas occur in the vast lowland
forests of central Africa, they too are coming under
threat as timber companies move into the region. As forests are opened up by
timber companies, hunters move in. The commercial trade in bushmeat is
now new threat to gorillas and other forest fauna.
Western
Gorilla:
WWF is racing to
protect Africa's great apes, by helping to establish protected areas in the
Congo
Basin forests,
and more importantly, helping to ensure these protected areas are managed
effectively. In Nigeria, the
Nigerian Conservation Foundation, a WWF Affiliate, is working with communities
in the Cross
River National
Park to help save the
Cross
River gorilla.
Tourists - advantage or
threat?
The tourist
stream to the areas where gorillas live could both be an advantage and a threat.
For the first income from tourists could be used for financing conservation work
of gorillas and the nature. On the other side a potential threat to gorillas is
exposure to human diseases. This particularly affects groups of habituated
gorillas which come in close contact with humans in areas where gorilla tourism
is promoted.
Organisations as WWF, FFI, and the AWF have done an
impression job to protect gorillas, and achieved so incredible results since
they started their conservations initiatives. They still have to work hard to
handle constantly occurring of new threats, and they need all the support they
can get from people all over the world to save these majestic creatures.
Stein Morten
Lund, 26 August
2004
Additional information
WWF: In just
over four decades, WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife
Fund) has become one of the world's largest and most respected independent
conservation organizations. With almost five million supporters distributed
throughout five continents, WWF has a global network active in over 90 countries
and can safely claim to have played a major role in the evolution of the
international conservation movement. For more information click on the link www.panda.org.
FFI: Fauna & Flora International is the world's longest established
international conservation body, founded 100 years ago.
Renowned for its science-based approach, FFI has pioneered sustainable
conservation work that tackles problems holistically, providing solutions that
simultaneously help wildlife, humans and the environment. FFI acts to conserve
threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are
sustainable based on sound science and compatible with human needs. For more
information click on the link www.fauna-flora.org
AWF: For more than 40 years, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has
focused exclusively on the continent of Africa. Through these years AWF
has played a major role in ensuring the continued existence of some of
Africa's
most rare and treasured species such as the elephant, the mountain gorilla,
rhinoceros and cheetah. The vision of this organisation is: The
African Wildlife Foundation, together with the people of
Africa, works to ensure the
wildlife and wild lands of Africa will endure
forever. For more information click on the link
www.awf.org
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